I am an English major.
I read a lot of books. I write a lot of papers. I think a lot about people.
And I've been thinking a lot about that.
As the world becomes more technologically advanced, the debate about the usefulness of the study of the humanities continues to grow. Primary and secondary school systems are phasing out the arts in favor of coding classes and STEM education. Universities are decreasing funding for liberal arts programs. Even our president is criticizing the worth of a liberal arts degree. And raised eyebrows, scoffs, and questions like "Oh, so what do you want to do with that....teach?" continue to follow a humanities major's declaration of what he or she is studying, all despite the reality that they actually have the same employment rates and success after college as students who studied more technical majors. (And their honed abilities in analyzing, thinking critically, solving complex problems, and communicating are actually the skills over 90% of employers today are looking for in their workers. Just saying.)
But regardless of jobs and the economy and numbers and what everyone seems to care about, there's something about an education in the humanities, and particularly English, that I find much more important.
In the English major (or study of literature for those of you in non-English-speaking places), you learn about everything. It's so much more than writing papers and reading poetry and talking about Shakespeare. You seriously learn about everything: history, war, social issues, gender issues, generational differences, psychology, health problems, EVERYTHING. For instance, today in my classes we talked about post-World War II disillusionment in England, feelings surrounding religion in the latter 20th century, Mary Wollstonecraft's feminist writings and the importance of educating women, and how Aristotle's writings are reflected in our current legal system. I don't have to be a women's studies major or a history major or be in law school to learn about and dwell on these things. And I don't have to read a textbook to understand it. I just read literature.
I firmly believe that literature is the lens through which we can better understand people. People as they have always been and always will be. Technology has changed, scientific knowledge has expanded, customs and traditions differ, but I'd bet that we are not so different from any human who ever left us literature to read—literature that we should read, because people write things for a reason. They want to address issues, preserve attitudes and feelings, document history, change the way we think, or challenge the status quo. Poetry isn't just written to sound nice and flowery and we don't just read it to feel good and say, "well wasn't that nice? Class dismissed." We read it to understand. Understand what it was like to live during the bombings in England in World War II. What is was like to feel conflicted between political causes in Burma. What it is like to have PTSD. For a moment, you are able to get outside of yourself and consider someone else's position, someone else's life, and truly be a part of the human experience and feel beyond what you could on your own. (It's not surprising that science has proven people who read literature are more empathetic).
Now, lest your brows are furrowed with rage or incredulity and you're saying "But Camryn, how can you claim that coding and engineering aren't important? If we didn't study those things we'd still live in huts!" I'm not saying that. I don't think that technical skills like technology, math, engineering, and science aren't important. They are extremely important to society and the development of our modern world and our understanding of everything around us—nature, space, our planet, buildings, transportation, communication, the list is almost endless. Without people studying these things and being rewarded with great jobs because of it, we really would still live in huts. Because of these people, we get to learn how things work and how the world around us works.
But those who study in the Humanities learn how we work. They learn about people, they learn about history, they learn about what makes us what we are. I mean, the root word of Humanities is human. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but the day we lose our sense of what makes us human, the day we as a society decide that history and art and, most especially, literature, are useless and unprofitable areas of study, the day that art courses and music time and writing and reading are lessened or eradicated from our kindergartens and elementary schools, is the day we lose our soul.
I can't think of anything more important than making sure that doesn't happen.
I read a lot of books. I write a lot of papers. I think a lot about people.
And I've been thinking a lot about that.
As the world becomes more technologically advanced, the debate about the usefulness of the study of the humanities continues to grow. Primary and secondary school systems are phasing out the arts in favor of coding classes and STEM education. Universities are decreasing funding for liberal arts programs. Even our president is criticizing the worth of a liberal arts degree. And raised eyebrows, scoffs, and questions like "Oh, so what do you want to do with that....teach?" continue to follow a humanities major's declaration of what he or she is studying, all despite the reality that they actually have the same employment rates and success after college as students who studied more technical majors. (And their honed abilities in analyzing, thinking critically, solving complex problems, and communicating are actually the skills over 90% of employers today are looking for in their workers. Just saying.)
But regardless of jobs and the economy and numbers and what everyone seems to care about, there's something about an education in the humanities, and particularly English, that I find much more important.
In the English major (or study of literature for those of you in non-English-speaking places), you learn about everything. It's so much more than writing papers and reading poetry and talking about Shakespeare. You seriously learn about everything: history, war, social issues, gender issues, generational differences, psychology, health problems, EVERYTHING. For instance, today in my classes we talked about post-World War II disillusionment in England, feelings surrounding religion in the latter 20th century, Mary Wollstonecraft's feminist writings and the importance of educating women, and how Aristotle's writings are reflected in our current legal system. I don't have to be a women's studies major or a history major or be in law school to learn about and dwell on these things. And I don't have to read a textbook to understand it. I just read literature.
I firmly believe that literature is the lens through which we can better understand people. People as they have always been and always will be. Technology has changed, scientific knowledge has expanded, customs and traditions differ, but I'd bet that we are not so different from any human who ever left us literature to read—literature that we should read, because people write things for a reason. They want to address issues, preserve attitudes and feelings, document history, change the way we think, or challenge the status quo. Poetry isn't just written to sound nice and flowery and we don't just read it to feel good and say, "well wasn't that nice? Class dismissed." We read it to understand. Understand what it was like to live during the bombings in England in World War II. What is was like to feel conflicted between political causes in Burma. What it is like to have PTSD. For a moment, you are able to get outside of yourself and consider someone else's position, someone else's life, and truly be a part of the human experience and feel beyond what you could on your own. (It's not surprising that science has proven people who read literature are more empathetic).
Now, lest your brows are furrowed with rage or incredulity and you're saying "But Camryn, how can you claim that coding and engineering aren't important? If we didn't study those things we'd still live in huts!" I'm not saying that. I don't think that technical skills like technology, math, engineering, and science aren't important. They are extremely important to society and the development of our modern world and our understanding of everything around us—nature, space, our planet, buildings, transportation, communication, the list is almost endless. Without people studying these things and being rewarded with great jobs because of it, we really would still live in huts. Because of these people, we get to learn how things work and how the world around us works.
But those who study in the Humanities learn how we work. They learn about people, they learn about history, they learn about what makes us what we are. I mean, the root word of Humanities is human. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but the day we lose our sense of what makes us human, the day we as a society decide that history and art and, most especially, literature, are useless and unprofitable areas of study, the day that art courses and music time and writing and reading are lessened or eradicated from our kindergartens and elementary schools, is the day we lose our soul.
I can't think of anything more important than making sure that doesn't happen.
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